Switching Teams

Sorry, gay guys of the Capital Region, but I’m talking about sports here.

I grew up a Yankees fan, due to my father’s fandom and the presence of the Albany/Colonie Yankees. I have fond memories of seeing games there, and remember vividly going to Heritage Park for – no joke – Kevin Maas day.

In recent years, however, I’ve found myself out of tune with baseball, a sport I used to love.

The assumption would be that it’s attributable to the PED scandal, but I’m not that naive. I was one of the few people I knew who suggested McGwire, Sosa, Canseco and others were on ‘roids well before the records were shattered. See, my baseball fandom came second only to my pro wrestling fandom, and we know a juicer when we see one. Besides, if you think that the NFL was and is clean, even comparatively speaking, then I have Twin Bridges to sell you.

What it comes down to, I think, is a completely dispassionate approach that comes with me being a Yankee fan.

The Yankees win. No, they don’t win the World Series every year, but they win it often enough to make it seem like not much of a struggle. I know they’re going to be in it, at least, and that really with what all their resources there’s an expectation – not a hope or desire – that they’ll win. Although they built up a good system in the 1990s, in the last decade the Yankees is a team that was signed, not built. Acquisitions like Randy Johnson and others were band-aids that worked to an extent, but not one that got me thrilled or excited for the future. Where’s the fun in that?

Then there are my fellow Yankee fans. Don’t even get me started.

So what do you think, readers? As an adult, am I allowed to switch teams and go from being a Yankees fan to, say….a Chicago Cubs fan?

Now there’s a team with personality and history; a team I can get emotionally invested in. I want a team that will invariably disappoint me, but that I can have fun carrying at least some modicum of hope for. Sure, Cubs fans think of themselves as long-suffering, but their love and devotion for their team is much stronger than anything I’ve encountered related to the Bronx Bombers.

Give me old Wrigley Field over the new and improved Yankee stadium any day.

So what you say, readers? Am I allowed to “switch teams” as an adult, or do I stay a Yankees fan and essentially walk away from my baseball fandom?

Vote below.

Should Kevin Marshall, an adult male, be allowed to switch fandom from the New York Yankees to the Chicago Cubs?

As a New Yorker and “Yankee Hater”, I myself am a Mets fan. I almost can’t stand Yankee fans as much as I can’t stand that team. Everything about that has become so commericialized. Their players are celeberaties..not athletes. I say as long as you are switching from being a Yankee fan to something else (Cubs, Mets, Bad News Bears..) than it’s acceptable in my book.

It’s not always easy to be a Yankee fan. Everyone hates us, and our team…the Evil Empire and all. But I think fans are born, not made (although I was a late bloomer). So I don’t think you should switch.

That said, if you have to switch, I applaud your alternative. If I were to ever switch, I’d be a Phillies fan, myself. For now – I’m a Yankee Girl.

I bleed pinstripe so take this with a grain of salt. There is no freakin’ way I could turn my back on the bombers. I remember watching Guidry strike out 19 on WPIX with my brother. I still have the news clipping from Thurman’s plane crash in a footlocker. You can be disillusioned with the present incarnation, but to switch teams is to renounce all of the personal history you’ve had with a team. That, to me, is comparable to hacking off a limb.

I think you should embrace your Yankee fandom by getting a NY tattoo on your arm or leg, then sport an off color (like green or red) Yankees ball cap with a straight brim to the side. Then, get a few Yankee stickers to put on your car, but make sure one is the NY symbol, huge, in the middle of your rear window. Another should say something like,”#1 Yankee”. Also your license plate will need to get personalized into something like, “YNKFN883″, or whatever series of numbers that you think is lucky.

These suggestions have been put forth by a person who has never been a fan of baseball. Just putting forth different things I have observed from fans of pro-sports in the Northeast.

I grew up in Chicago and come from a long line of Cubs fans. Let me personally welcome you into the club. A few things you need to know. First, Cubs Home Opener is a holiday (it was actually senior ditch day at my high school). It’s April 1st this year. Second, you have to go into every season with blind optimism– learn the phrase “This will be their year!” Third, if anyone ever tries to change the name of Wrigley Field, prepare for war.

I went through a heartfelt midlife conversion, Kev. I grew up a hardcore NY Rangers fan, and stuck with them through the terrible mid-60s, to the almost-years of the Ratelle-Gilbert-Hadfield line and Eddie Giacomin in goal and into the early 1990s. Then, in ’92 they had a palace coup and ousted their coach. At the time, I lived outside Syracuse and got the CBC on my cable system. And the Maple Leafs were at that point a hard-working lunchbucket club…and I found myself becoming a Leafs fan. I knew my allegiance had irrevocably changed when the Rangers won the Cup in ’94 and I felt just a momentary twinge of regret…no urge to jump back on the wagon.

You’ll know if the feelings of fandom are true or not if and when you do switch. But don’t do it just to do it, or you’ll be a man without a country.

I’m kind of in the same boat as you Kevin. Grew up rooting for Don Mattingly and the average Yankee teams of the 80′s. Used to love the old Yankee Stadium.

Now it’s a 100 dollars to sit in the outfield seats and 9 dollars a beer. Not to mention they do go out and buy everyone and anyone they want. I’m kind of turned off by them. I agree with #7.. The Rays are a great team to root for. They have no fan base, they’re always competitive and exciting and they have a small payroll. If you’ve ever been to Tampa during the season. You can walk up the day of the game and buy an affordable seat wherever you want in the stadium.

If you want another team to root for that will always let you down in the end… try the JETS..

Go Local! Support the ValleyCats! That way you can say, “I’m still a fan of the Yankees, but right now, I just love the atmosphere of single-A baseball”. Plus tickets are a lot cheaper. And you don’t even have to pay that much attention.